Sophie Zenonos, 28, says doctors fobbed her off for months and dismissed her symptoms with antibiotics, only to later find out she had stage-four cancer
Neil Shaw Assistant Editor (Money and Lifestyle) and Kate Lally SEO writer
15:18, 07 Dec 2025Updated 15:49, 07 Dec 2025
Sophie had fatigue and a cough she couldn’t shake(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
A woman has claimed that doctors dismissed her serious symptoms with antibiotics, despite her being so unwell she struggled to climb stairs without gasping for breath – only to later find out she had cancer. Sophie Zenonos began experiencing symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, and a persistent cough in October 2019, leading her to seek medical advice from her GP.
The 28-year-old visited A&E in January 2020 as her symptoms continued, but Sophie claims she was brushed off by doctors who prescribed antibiotics on three separate occasions, diagnosing her with a chest infection. Sophie recalls her breathlessness becoming so severe that she found it difficult to ascend a flight of stairs without pausing for rest – despite maintaining an active lifestyle and going to the gym three times a week.
When her symptoms showed no signs of improvement, and after a coughing fit so severe that it caused her to turn blue, Sophie returned to the doctors in June 2020. The marketing officer underwent an X-ray scan that month, which revealed a six-inch by four-inch tumour in her chest, leading to a diagnosis of stage four Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Sophie says doctors fobbed her off(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
Sophie expressed frustration over the fact that her blood cancer diagnosis had been overlooked by doctors for such a prolonged period. After undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she was declared free of blood cancer in May 2021, but is now facing a battle against thyroid cancer.
Sophie, who lives in Essex, is now encouraging others to ‘persevere’ and seek a second opinion if they feel something isn’t right with their health. She expressed her frustration over the late diagnosis, saying: “I first started experiencing symptoms towards the late end of 2019. I was just feeling generally unwell. The shortness of breath was the main symptom. I was really struggling to breathe.”
“I couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without needing to stop and take a minute, which for someone who was in the gym multiple times a week is quite unusual. I also had a continuous cough and general fatigue and tiredness.
Before she began experiencing symptoms Sophie was fit and healthy(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
“I went to my GP, and I went to A&E twice as well, they gave me some antibiotics and told me that I had a chest infection.”
After months of advocating for herself, Sophie received the heartbreaking news in June 2020 that she had stage four blood cancer. Sophie added: “I was constantly fobbed off by the GP and by A&E, so it ended up taking around nine months to get my actual diagnosis. I ended up having a coughing fit to the point where I turned blue and my mum was like ‘we need to get this sorted now’. I went to the GP, and they sent me for a chest X-ray. The tumour was 15cm by 11cm in my chest, which is massive.
“It all just went from zero to one hundred after that. I got transferred from my local hospital straight to a specialist hospital in London, just because of my age and how large [the tumour] was.
Sophie and her husband Zach(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
“I was frustrated that it had taken so long to get a diagnosis and as time went on a lot of anger did build up. I was shocked that it was something so serious and that it had taken so long to get to this point but I was also relieved as well because I had an answer.”
Sophie endured six cycles of chemotherapy and 20 radiotherapy sessions spanning from June 2020 through to December 2020. By May 2021, she had been given the all-clear from blood cancer. However, towards the close of 2023, Sophie faced devastating news once again when doctors diagnosed her with thyroid cancer.
Sophie said: “I had swollen lymph nodes in my neck for a while, which wouldn’t go down. I thought maybe I was just run down or that I had a cold. They did a biopsy and told me there and then that it didn’t look like lymphoma, but it looked like thyroid cancer.
“In February 2024, I had surgery to remove my thyroid and the surrounding lymph nodes in my neck, where the cancer had spread to, were removed as well. I’m at the point now where the lymph nodes are still cancerous because the treatment didn’t remove it all.
“They aren’t getting bigger, so at the moment they’re treating it as stable, and the doctors are working out what the next steps are.”
Sophie is now encouraging others who have an instinctive feeling that something isn’t right with their health to pursue a second medical opinion. Sophie said: “You’ve got to persevere with it. I’m so in tune with my body now that I know when any little thing is different or when something changes.
“If you’re young and to the eye look kind of well and healthy, but you’ve got that gut feeling that something could be wrong, then you’ve got to seek that second opinion and persevere. Obviously, the sooner you get diagnosed, the better the outcome.
“I got diagnosed so late, and now my quality of life isn’t the greatest.”
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a form of cancer that affects the lymphatic system, which consists of a network of vessels and glands distributed throughout the body. The primary indicator of non-Hodgkin lymphoma is typically painless swelling in a lymph node, commonly occurring in the neck, armpit, or groin area.
Treatment primarily involves chemotherapy and radiotherapy.